Re: Need advice how how to deal with family on Vaccination...

[Guest guest]

No one, and I mean NO ONE will love your baby more than you. And no one will go

to such great lengths to protect your baby more than you will. Anyone who has

been a mother knows this, including your own mother, mother in law, etc. I think

you should do what you feel best doing. Don't worry about what others think.

They need to respect your feelings and actions when it comes to YOUR baby. And

if they don't, then, oh well. At least you know in your heart that you are doing

what you feel is best for your child. Tell your family that you love them and

would love to see them, but this is how it is and to please respect your wishes.

Anyone who has been a mother will/should understand.

>

> Playing devil's advocate for a moment ... are you giving birth to your baby

> in a hospital? Because if you are, there is just as much likelihood that

> your baby will be exposed to hospital personnel who've taken FluMist, other

> vaccines, or are currently sick with the flu or other viruses/illnesses, as

> there is to being exposed by your family members. And some of them will be

> in just as close contact with the baby. I think it is reasonable to take

> precautions, but isolating yourself and alienating your family only 'protects'

> your baby from exposure to a handful of people - not from the nurses, aides,

> cooks, housekeeping staff, other patients, other patients' visitors,

> hospital volunteers, baby photographer, etc., that will be in the hospital and

> will either be in contact or in close proximity with you and your baby. And

we

> know that healthcare workers are vaccinated on a regular basis and also

> come to work sick.

>

> When I was a nursing student in the '80s doing my clinical rotations, we

> had a patient who had a newly emerging illness that was considered mysterious,

> frightening and deadly. This patient was kept in complete isolation from

> everyone, including his family. He was in an isolation room with a negative

> vent system to keep the air in his room from mixing with air in the

> hospital. All his eating utensils and personal items were single-use

disposable

> items - nothing was even sent to be sterilized. Staff who went in his room

> were double-gowned, double-gloved, double-masked. Well, you get the idea - it

> was like he had the black plague. But the mystery illness he had was ...

> AIDS. Even as a student nurse, it was apparent to me that, while these

> elaborate precautions were being taken because the patient had been

*diagnosed*

> with AIDS, there were probably plenty of other patients out there where NO

> precautions were taken, simply because the patient had not yet been

> tested/diagnosed, but still had AIDS. Eventually hospitals did introduce

" universal

> precautions " for blood & bodily fluids - but certainly none as extensive as

> those early AIDS precautions were. I think the same thing is true with MRSA

> today. So I guess my point is that you are focused on your immediate family

> members because you are able to inquire in advance about their vaccine

> status. But that does not protect you or your baby from all possible sources

of

> exposure, which is not possible or realistic unless you keep the baby in

> complete isolation from all human contact (and even then, not 100%

guaranteed).

>

> Whether it's worth alienating your entire family over the possibility that

> your brother might have his kids vaccinated again just at the time your baby

> is born is your call. But I think it might be helpful to look at the

> bigger picture. JMHO though.

>

> Becca

>